The steam that Facebook is gathering in India is visible all around the digital media. It’s on your computer, your phone, your tab and even on your TV. This amazing frenzy that India has shown for Facebook is being noticed by the website and they are now taking the Indian market seriously. Most brands that advertise through any medium have a ‘Like Us on Facebook’ tab. Although Facebook has close to 800 million users currently signed up- which is by far the biggest number for any web based service- the sheer numbers from India and the market potential of the country are simply huge.
Face book VP, Vaughan Smith said, “We are confident that in the coming years, India will be our leading market…Currently, it is at No 3 in terms of number of users. Last announced number was 30 million for India and 45 million for Indonesia. I’m sure India will be No 1 in the coming years“.
The marketing efforts of businesses in India are slowly but surely moving towards social media simply for the want of better communication and more time with the consumers. This trend also says that a huge part of the Indian crowd is accessing Facebook on their smart phones. After realizing this, the company has started to develop face book for more mobile platforms as smart phones are not with the masses. Sectors like FMCG, retail and hospitality have a special liking for Facebook since most of their target is available online.
This week Facebook made visible efforts to bring Facebook across basic mobile platforms by tying up with Mediatek. On the same lines, telecom operator Vodafone recently launched a phone with a special Facebook feature and named it ‘Vodafone Blue’ costing around INR 4950.
Smith further added that, “As people become mobile and are on the go, they want to communicate with their friends, share information and that we think will drive the need for devices. We want to create a fast and engaging experience for users even on devices costing below say USD 50 (Rs 2,500), the idea is to have more users on board“.